news.bostonherald.comBill O'Brien? No, we wouldn't have guessed it either a week ago. But now, awaiting just confirmation from Penn State, he's the school's new football coach.

Kudos to Penn State student radio on Thursday night, which from all accounts was the first to report that the university was about to end its search for a football coach and hire Bill O'Brien.

That took place somewhere around the 9 o'clock hour, and within a half-hour ESPN was scrolling a Chris Mortensen report beneath the Under Armour All-Star game we were watching in the office. Soon, the Boston media was echoing the news, and that helped set in motion the front-page story that Bob Flounders put together on deadline.

That this process has been secretive is epitomized by the last 24 hours, where as of now there's no official confirmation or announcement that O'Brien has been hired. We still don't know when he will be introduced to the media. Of course, from what we hear, no one has officially told the coaches or players anything either. That should change later Friday.

There are at least two things that will be worth learning in the days ahead. One: How much was Penn State surprised by O'Brien telling people in the media he knew that he was taking the job? That news seemed to leak out before the university was ready to confirm it. We were learning it from reporters who cover the NFL full time, not through the sources that any of the Penn State writers traditionally lean on.

Obviously, the other is the full story of how the search wound up being conducted. Who was in the mix and who wasn't? Who turned the job down? What kind of involvement did the members of the panel have? Did salary become an issue?

To Penn State's credit, it managed something that's unheard of in today's small world, a search that left all of us in the media confounded. (That seemed to delight some of you, so glad you got some amusement out of our frustrations). I guess if there was any satisfaction in this as an editor, it's that the story finally was broken by someone who covers the NFL and the students working out of the radio station in the final days of semester break. Congrats.

Judging by the bolts of reaction lighting up the internet, Twitter and Facebook since Thursday night, it's not like the story is over. We will have plenty of news to report and break over the coming months. This story will be front and center, in the paper and online, from now through the end of O'Brien's first season.

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